The FBI director, Kash Patel, lashed out at the “uninformed internet anarchists and the fake news” and fired the head of the bureau’s aviation unit after public flight logs showed he flew on a government plane to see his girlfriend perform at a Pennsylvania wrestling event during the government shutdown. 

On Saturday, Mr. Patel reportedly dismissed Steven Palmer, a 27-year FBI veteran and head of the Critical Incident Response Group, which oversees the bureau’s airplane fleet. Mr. Patel reportedly fired Mr. Palmer over disclosures in flight data logs, published by Flightaware, detailing Mr. Patel’s trip to the Real American Freestyle wrestling event, where his girlfriend, Alexis Wilkins, performed the national anthem. 

“I’ve always said — criticize me all you want. But going after the people doing great work, my personal life, or those around me is a total disgrace,” Mr. Patel, 45, said on his personal X account on Sunday. 

The firing makes Mr. Palmer the third head of CIRG to be dismissed since Mr. Patel took over the bureau in February. 

Mr. Patel reposted Ms. Wilkins’s pictures from the wrestling event on his personal X account, which a controversial FBI whistleblower turned right-wing videocaster, Kyle Seraphin, called a “really awful look” and a “hypocritical” move by Mr. Patel. 

As FBI director, Mr. Patel is considered a “required use traveler” and is mandated by Congress to fly on planes that are equipped with Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility communications. FBI directors are also required to reimburse the government for use of the plane at the cost of a commercial plane ticket. 

Last week, an FBI spokesman, Ben Williamson, said on X that Mr. Patel reimburses the bureau in advance. However, operational costs like fuel and airport landing fees are covered by taxpayer money. Prior to becoming FBI director, Mr. Patel called his predecessor, Christopher Wray, a “Government gangster” for flying the jet in likewise fashion.

But the decision to publicize the trip on social media at a time when there are Americans “struggling to put food on their table” during a government shutdown may have been poor “optics” by Mr. Patel.

“I think he should have been a little more circumspect about making this such a public trip,” a former FBI agent and conservative commentator, John Nantz, tells the Sun. 

Since then, Mr. Patel has faced intense backlash from both the press and social media — which Mr. Seraphin, a tireless Patel irritant, has helped inflame through his social media accounts and his podcast, “The Kyle Seraphin Show.”  

“From the outside in, it looks like Kash is simply failing to save his reputation,” Mr. Seraphin tells the Sun.

On his podcast last week, Mr. Seraphin alleged that the FBI launched an internal “leak” investigation “to find out who funneled me information about Kash Patel’s jet-setting trip,” even though Mr. Seraphin had mostly used public information made available by Mr. Patel and Ms. Wilkins.  

On Sunday, Mr. Patel defended his girlfriend, whom he called “a rock-solid conservative and a country music sensation.”

“Attacking her isn’t just wrong — it’s cowardly and jeopardizes our safety,” he said on X . 

In August, Ms. Wilkins, a country music singer and former child actor, sued Mr. Seraphin for $5 million in damages after he accused her on his show of being a “honeypot” and an Israeli spy seeking access to the Trump administration. Mr. Seraphin also described Mr. Patel as “cross-eyed” and a “super cool bro” who is “Indian in America.”

When asked about the status of Ms. Wilkins’s lawsuit, Mr. Seraphin told the Sun:  “I have retained counsel, and we will have a substantive filing to respond shortly.”